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Killybegs

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Blog Entries posted by Killybegs

  1. Killybegs
    I had a a couple of locos back into the workshop for repair today. The first was a County Donegal railcar that 'needed a loose wire resoldering'. True it did. In fact I think it had been rewired so many times, the wires were too short to make new connections, so I replaced them. As the front pony truck was only held in place by the remaining wire, I repaired that as well. However, when I applied power ..... nothing! A quick investigation revealed that the motor shaft and gear were securely araldited to the chassis! I removed the power bogie and , fortunately, was able to remove the araldite with the tip of a scalpel. The owner of the loco was at a loss to understand how it happened although he did admit to having someone who carries out simple repairs and had, indeed, recently serviced said railcar. The mind boggles.
     
    Next up was Lough Swilly No. 12 which was reported as making a noise but not moving. A quick inspection revealed the final gear rotating freely on the driven axle. I spent a while flushing away all the oil and gunge then drilled a 0.5mm hole through the edge of the gear and into the axle. A short length of brass wire was then soldered into the hole and filed off smooth. Quite a tricky operation with everything in situ including brake pull rods, etc. Any way, problem cured. However, I also noticed that one of the coupling rods had broken on the pinned joint, so, on one side, it was working as a 4-4+4-0 as opposed to a 4-8-0. Amazingly it still ran. As the loco was required for an exhibition next week, it was agreed that a new coupling rod would have to wait! I think the loco has had some rough handling over the last couple of years, as I have already had to repair the valve gear after it had been bent out of all recognition. The coupling rod may well have been initially damaged at that time.
     
    The locos do quite a few shows each year and I think there is a problem getting reliable operators!
     
    Incidentally, this is what it looked like when new
     

  2. Killybegs
    I can't believe its nearly a year since I last posted on this blog. In the last nine months I have:
     
    Built an incline connecting the fiddle yard to the low level section that will house the MPD. This also involved modifying the removable bridge section that carries the tracks across the doorway.
     
    The track for the MPD has been built, laid, ballasted and wired up. The base for the MPD including inspection pits was also installed at this time.
     
    The coaling stage/water tower was built.
     
    I finally got around to finishing a Malcolm Mitchell mogul that I started about fifteen years ago.
     
    Now that I am spending pretty much all my time on Worseter, perhaps it ought to have its own blog.
     
    Anyway, here are a few pics to be going on with.
     
    The shed has to accomodate Midland Region locos following the closure of their shed

     
    Through a momentary break in the storm clouds, the winter sun illuminates 6154

     
    5326 waits for coal

  3. Killybegs
    As a break from working on Killybegs Station, I have been working on the large number of vans and wagons that I need for Worseter. I have been experimenting with different painting and weathering tecniques to get a reasonable representation of the variation in colour found in any train of vans. This batch (all Parkside Dundas kits) were sprayed with Halfords red primer then weathered with Railmatch acrylics. I used a variable mix of 'frame dirt' and 'roof dirt', well diluted with water, brush applied in several coats which were largely removed almost immediately with a soft cloth. This allowed me to build up different levels of grime while also toning down the colour of the primer. The acrylic dries very quickly! I plan to airbrush the next batch with BR Bauxite before weathering.
     
    Click on the image for a better view!
  4. Killybegs
    It is pretty amazing that, while you poor guys in the UK are suffering the most horendous weather, we have clear blue skies here in the north west of Ireland.
     
    In between working on the train shed for Killybegs, I have been getting on with building wagons and vans for Worseter. Some of these are due to see service on Clinkerford at York next year when Kempenfelt of this parish (the new owner) is hoping to run the layout in BR guise on at least one day, so that's given me an incentive to get on with them! Having finished building a batch of vans and wagons I have now made a start on lettering and painting/weathering. In the interests of economy (I need an awful lot of them), the kits are built pretty much as they come out of the box with just the odd bit of extra detailing. First three off the production line are seen below. The pannier is a Bachmann body on a High Level chassis. It's still waiting 'enhancement'!
  5. Killybegs
    I spent quite a while ruminating about how best to deal with the glazing on the train shed roof for Killybegs. The original plan was to use sheets of clear acrylic with glazing bars represented with plastic microstrip. I wasn't really happy that this would look right, so looked to the real thing (metaphorically speaking as Killybegs station building is long gone) for inspiration and eventually opted for a brass frame into which individual sheets of glazing could be fitted. For ease of fabrication I was going to make it up in bay sized panels but then decided to bite the bullet and make them up in single panels just under 600mm long.
     
    The perimeter of the panel and centre lines of the glazing bars were marked out on melamine faced chipboard (the same piece that I used for the roof assembly jig!) then 1mm angles (top and ends) and 1 x 0.2mm flats (bottom) were carefully lined up, secured with bluetack and soldered up. The glazing bars were cut to length (no room for mistakes here as I could just get eight out of a 250mm length with nothing left over!) and tidied up before soldering in position using solder paste and my RSU. To facilitate the use of the RSU, I soldered lengths of resonably heavy duty wire to each end of the top member and took them back to the crocodile clip on one lead of the RSU. The glazing bars were lined up by eye and the top end tacked in place. With my digital 'vernier' gauge locked to the spacing required between the bars and positioned against one end angle, the RSU probe was used to trap the bottom of the glazing bar against the gauge while it was soldered in place. Any minor adjustment was then made to the top end. This was then repeated 66 times! An engineer's square was also used from time to time to check that everything was indeed staying square. I don't think I would have attempted this without the RSU.
     
    The first pic shows the completed panel still mounted on its board. The second shows it blue tacked temporarily in position on the roof.
  6. Killybegs
    The trainshed roof and outer wall are now one unit. The jig to hold everything firmly in place while the two parts were soldered together was quite simple in the end. 3 lengths of brass tube that were a tight fit in the square tubes of the columns were let into the board to hold the wall vertical. 2 larger diameter tubes were notched vertically to be a tight fit on the wire cross bracing of the end trusses then let into the board in a position where the foot of the rafter butted against the inside face of the tube while locating the other end of the truss correctly on the wall. These 2 tubes were accurately cut to length so that, when flush with the underside of the board, they also held the truss at the correct height. To ensure accuracy and verticality of the holes in the board, they were started (just) with a 1mm drill in a pin vice then drilled out using my large pillar drill. Once everything had been double checked, it only took a couple of minutes to solder everything together using my RSU (whereas most of the soldering of the trusses was done with a soldering iron). A spot of cleaning, then it was out with the can of primer. Voila!
     
    I was so pleased with the result that, as the sun was shining, I couldn't resist nipping out into the garden to take a few pics.
  7. Killybegs

    Killybegs Train Shed

    By Killybegs,

    The roof and wall structures are now finished. The next step is to build a jig to hold the roof and wall firmly in the correct position while I solder them together. Both components are too big to fit in the sink so I ended up cleaning them in the bath!
  9. Killybegs

    Killybegs Train Shed

    By Killybegs,

    With holidays in France over for another year, the drawings finished and materials ordered and delivered, I really had no excuse not to get on with the train shed roof. Construction doesn't exactly replicate the original but it will be very close in appearance (as the trusses will be visible through the rood glazing). The main members are in brass hollow tube and have been drilled to take the lengths of 0.5mm nickel silver rod which represent the bracing. The roof will be removable which is why one end of the trusses have been cut vertical to allow them to fit against the outside wall of the station building. How this all works will become clearer in further blogs as the work progresses.
     
    I took advantage of the fifth consecutive days of blue skies here in Donegal to nip outside and take the pic below. Apologies to all you guys in mainland UK that are getting rained upon!
  10. Killybegs
    Now that I have officially retired, I have more time on my hands to get back to work on Worseter, my roundy roundy layout. The fiddle yards have been in storage mode for nearly ten years while I concentrated on getting Clinkerford finished and building stock for the layout. The fiddle yard is on three boards which are hinged at the rear to allow them to be folded up out of the way against the wall. Now that Clinkerford has moved on to pastures new, the boards have been lowered to operating level on a permanent basis and bolted securely together and to one end of the layout (the other end is connected by a 'bridge' across the doorway). Over the years some differential movement had taken place between the boards leading to tracks being slightly misaligned. The gaps between the ends of rails were also too much for my liking, so short sections on each board were cut out and replaced with a single length of track. The connection to the layout was even more critical as the tracks are on a 1200mm radius. These utilise timber sleepers with C&L rail and chairs, to facilitate gauge widening, whereas the fiddle yard uses preformed track. I left the timber sleepers in place, removing only the rail and chairs. New lengths of rail and chairs were then laid. I also took the opportunity to level up the trackbed which had settled a little over the years. It was very satisfying to dust off and connect up the control panel and find that nearly everything was srill working (once the rust had been removed from the top of the rails - one drawback of steel rails when you live close to the sea!), just one dodgy microswitch on a Tortoise point motor. Soon sorted with a bit of use. Interesting that only one board had a couple of loose droppers.
     
    I have to modify the bridge across the door before I can achieve continuous running again and the whole low level section of the layout which includes an MPD, factory and wharehouses has yet to be started!
     
    The pics below show the join between two of the boards during and after track modifications. The final pic shows Totnes Castle being turned on one of the two fiddle yard turntables. I believe in turning locos, not trains, just like real life! Locos are detatched and turned if appropriate before running round their train. Once the MPD is built they might even go on shed!
  11. Killybegs
    A little more progress on the 2-4-0 and it's starting to look a bit more like the prototype. However the further I progress, the more differences I pick up between the Isle of Man locos (on which the kit is based) and those supplied to the Ballymena & Larne (and thence on to the C&VBT). Most of these relate to the body. The side tanks should be taller, the bunker larger and there are lots of differences on the cab itself. As the buffers should also be a lot lower, I'm wondering if there was really very much the same! I guess each railway had its own specific requirements and locos were outshopped accordingly. Anyway I have been asked to build the body as the kit rather than scratchbuild all the bodywork, but I will try and modify the cab sides appropriately.
  12. Killybegs
    After goodness knows how many hours No.12 is finally finished (all bar a bit of coal and some crew). It has been a long road and one which I don't think I would choose to travel down again. However, at the end of the day she doesn't look too bad and runs quite smoothly.
  13. Killybegs
    In response to comments on my last blog, here is a B&W quickie showing progress on the rake to date. Two coaches are yet to be detailed and are sitting on 'bare' bogies. The last two are sitting in the cupboard! I intend to leave all the roofs to be painted at one go. Must get that embankment finished off, not to mention most of the low lvel part of the layout!
  14. Killybegs
    It's only a rake of nine coaches you say, shouldn't take too long. That's only 18 sprung bogies with 36 axles, 72 wheels, 72 pairs of brake hangers and 144 brake shoes to assemble. Don't forget the 36 cosmetic sides. Then there are 18 Kadees to assemble and fit (after modifying the coach ends to take them), 18 corridor connections to assemble and fit, 9 sets of underframe detailing to cobble up, 9 roofs that need all those strips removing. Numbers to be changed, bogies and roofs to be painted, sides and to be weathered and I guess we ought to have a few people. Well, actually, rather a lot of people to be painted and placed on their seats.
     
    BUT at the end of a day spent assembling just one pair of bogies (if there aren't too many interruptions), you can slip them onto the coach and send it gliding at speed through a double slip and a couple of turnouts without a care in the world. Ah, what joy!
     
    Ah well, with five coaches down and four more bogies built we are well on the way. If you forget about the other 12 coaches still in their boxes, that is!
  16. Killybegs

    Castle Conversion

    By Killybegs,

    After much blood sweat and tears the Hornby body and Malcolm Mitchell chassis have finally come together. Once she has received her new identity, Totnes Castle will be very lightly weathered. I think the Malvern Hills make a very suitable backdrop!
  17. Killybegs

    More Donegal Locos

    By Killybegs,

    While beavering away on the Castle in my spare time, I have continued building locos for the County Donegal Heritage Centre.
     
    The latest project is a Lough Swilly 4-8-0. The upper works are now pretty well finished and await the loco chassis. I am waiting on wheels for this one and, as the chassis is of the fold up variety with external frames, it can't be assembled without them!
     
    Back in August I posted an entry on the CDR Class 5A that I had been building but I forgot to attach a pic so I have included one here. This is a work in progress shot, foolishly I forgot to take any more photographs before I handed it over! I will have to borrow it back for a day!
  18. Killybegs
    Well to be more precise building an etched chassis to a Hornby Castle.
     
    I had been waiting for Brassmasters to release one of their fold up chassis conversions for the Hornby Castle, but it seems that this has been put on the back burner while they concentrate on LMS locos. So I dug a Malcolm Mitchell kit out of the cupboard to see if I could use the chassis from that as a short term fix.
     
    The Mitchell kit follows the prototype very closely which may be OK in 7mm but in P4 it means that clearances are very tight. I therefore decided to build the front half of the chassis first (it is designed to be built in two parts which are then bolted together) as that's where most problems are likely to be encountered. To get clearance between the crossheads I have had to reduce the bosses on the front drivers (Ultrascale) by 0.5mm and I have also had to cut away the rear of the cylinder casings to give a reasonable amount of movement on the bogie. The bogie itself has been modified to have a central sliding sprung mounting rather than being treated as a pony truck as per the kit design.
     
    As they both have to be reunited with their respective other halves at some time in the future, any modifications to the Hornby body or the Mitchell chassis were very limited.
     
    It has been a very fiddly exercise but I think it has been worth it. Now for the rest of the chassis!
  19. Killybegs

    Farewell Clinkerford

    By Killybegs,

    This weekend Clinkerford was put up for the last time at home to be checked over for its final outing to Manchester in October, after which it passes into new ownership. A sad day! I couldn't resist the temptation to take a few last shots, mostly from the side the punters don't see. Hope you enjoy them. See you in Manchester.
  20. Killybegs
    Having finally got around to fitting some (temporary) chimney pots, I have been waiting to take some suitable 'on location' shots of the model here in Killybegs. Unfortunately, the weather has had other ideas, so here are a couple of indoor shots to be going on with. It still looks a bit bare without the train shed but at the moment that's on the long finger as I am still building 4mm CDR stock.
  21. Killybegs
    This is the Backwoods Miniatures Class 5 kit with the Worsley Works kit to convert it to a 5A. The latter provides new footplate, valances, tanks and bunker which go together reasonably well although some of the tabs don't fit the slots and there is a gap below the front of the tanks. Matching it up with the original kit is more problematic, there is a poor fit between the cab/bunker/tanks, particularly in relation to height but this was overcome relatively easily. The 5A is 1'5" longer than the Class 5 so, as you don't get a replacement chassis, the original one needs lengthening. Unfortunately this involves two cuts not one, as you need to insert 4mm in front of the rear bogie and 1mm behind it. Nothing that can't be fixed with the soldering iron and some scrap etch!
  23. Killybegs
    Since the my last post, I have put a 'base coat' down in preparation for future 'planting'. Most of the hillside will be covered by scrub and trees in due course. The access road and platform have also received some initial treatment and the back scene has had a splash of colour added. It's amazing how just a bit of colour starts to bring things to life.
     
    For PcnPete, I'm also attaching a close up of the track as requested.
  24. Killybegs
    Having been following poor Pete's tales of woe with regard to filling, I was prompted to return to 'Abergynolwyn' (after far too long a gap) and finish the filling between my own tracks using my trusted method of lightweight filler (as also used in the MPD on Bruckless Junction). This is set far enough below rail height for the rails to stand just proud of the finished surface after ballasting. I used a bit of 40 thou plasticard to to create the flangeway while the filler was setting then cleaned it up afterwards, but then, it's a lot easier in 7mm. I gave the filler a suitable wash of colour using artists' acrylics prior to ballasting with a mix of coal dust and ash from the hearth. Also splashed a bit of colour on the rocks while I was in the mood!
     
    Now then, shall I do a bit more landscaping or shall I get back to upgrading the coaching stock for 'The Cornishman'!
  25. Killybegs
    While looking for something else (that I haven't yet found) I did find these old pics of my Kingham Junction layout that are well over 20 years old. I wonder if it's still around somewhere! The second attempt at a back scene looks a lot better than the first, rather bright, one!
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